All hands to the pumps?

The Financial Times reports today that Saudi Arabia is stepping up crude oil production by 300,000 barrels a day. And there are signs that other members of OPEC are starting to press for an increase in OPEC oil output as prices rise above $127 per barrel and the steep rise in oil costs hurts many developing countries. This FT article provides a bit more background on some of the tensions within the cartel. Saudi Arabia is often called a swing producer within the OPEC cartel - adjusting short run production to help the cartel meet its price targets / objectives. It seems that Saudi is justifying the new boost to output on the grounds of compensating for reductions in production from other OPEC members. Goldman Sachs has raised its average price projection for crude in 2009 to $148 a barrel.

Investment in Energy Infrastructure [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Current Account of the Balance of Payments [20 May 2012]
Tullow Oil and African Development [25 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Externalities - Deepwater Horizon 2 Years On [21 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Balance of Payments in 2011 [4 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Cartels [31 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Inequality - The Rise of Fuel Poverty [15 Mar 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Sovereign Wealth Funds [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Might Oil Prices Bring another Recession? [4 Mar 2012]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Zondle Game: 10 Question Quiz about OPEC [11 Jul 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
AS Micro: What´s really behind the oil price rise? [10 May 2011]
AS Micro: Importance of Elasticity of Supply [23 Apr 2011]
Soap powder cartel leaves stain on colluders [13 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: The volatile price of crude oil [9 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Aggregate Supply Shock [6 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Bubble [4 Apr 2011]
OPEC oil revenues set to surge above $1 trillion in 2011 [30 Mar 2011]
Progress towards low carbon economic growth [18 Mar 2011]
Timetric: UK Balance of Trade in Oil [6 Mar 2011]
The US-China Trade Deficit [14 Feb 2011]
Ghana becomes a producer of crude oil [15 Dec 2010]
Tacit collusion between oil producers and consumers? [12 Dec 2010]
Energy Oligopoly - Price Investigation is Launched [26 Nov 2010]
October Edition of EconoMax now Available [3 Nov 2010]
The Market for Potash [30 Oct 2010]
Potash - a battle for grey dust that has become gold dust [26 Aug 2010]
AS Macro: Extreme weather hits Russian economic growth [26 Aug 2010]
Australia divided on a mining super-tax [4 Jun 2010]
AS Macro Revision: Cost Push Inflation [31 May 2010]
Economics of the EU Revision - Carbon Taxes [26 May 2010]
AS Economics Revision - Stocks and Prices [22 May 2010]
AS Economics Revision - Oil and Petrol Prices [22 May 2010]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Duopoly [3 May 2010]
Issues and Prospects for the UK Economy in 2010 [25 Apr 2010]
Record fines for tobacco price-fixing as cartel goes up in smoke [16 Apr 2010]
UK Economy Revision: Inflation in the last few years [1 Apr 2010]
RES Competition: A New World Currency? [31 Mar 2010]
Slumpflation? UK inflation jumps to 3.5% [16 Feb 2010]
Revision Presentation - The World Oil Market [11 Jan 2010]
Assorted Links (5 Jan 2010) [5 Jan 2010]
Is UK manufacturing turning a corner? [4 Jan 2010]
Assorted Links (3 Jan 2010) [3 Jan 2010]
Assorted Links (1 Jan 2010) [1 Jan 2010]
Impact of global recession on developing countries [18 Dec 2009]
Green gold in Tanzania [14 Dec 2009]
Tories plan break up of energy oligopoly [4 Dec 2009]
Fast growing developing countries may mean end of era of cheap oil [11 Nov 2009]
Peak oil theory and economic implications [25 Oct 2009]
Speculators and Exceptions to the Law of Demand [23 Oct 2009]
Norway - your guys take a lot of beating! [21 Oct 2009]
Gloomy summary [13 Oct 2009]
Explaining the Malthusian Trap [8 Oct 2009]
Explaining the Malthusian Trap [5 Oct 2009]
Are the Japanese the latest victims of a strengthening currency? [28 Sep 2009]
Managing a global business in turbulent times [23 Sep 2009]
Olive Oil Producers Suffer from Falling Prices [16 Sep 2009]
The Big Question looks at peak oil theory [7 Sep 2009]
Falling oil prices hit oil exporting nations [10 Aug 2009]
OPEC compliance dips with the oil price [26 Jul 2009]
LCD manufacturers are screened for price fixing [14 Jul 2009]
Recession and cheaper pound help to cut UK trade deficit [12 Jul 2009]
Petrol-Diesel Price Difference Narrows [30 Jun 2009]
Q&A: What is hedging? [1 Jun 2009]
Grey Skies for BA as Revenues Fall and Losses Take Off [24 May 2009]
Norway - Shallower Recession and Better Placed [18 May 2009]
Q&A: Why do cartels often collapse? [14 Apr 2009]
Trade Imbalances - Presentation [12 Feb 2009]
Globalisation and EU labour law [3 Feb 2009]
2008 - A Year when Bubbles Burst [31 Dec 2008]
World Oil Market in Review - 2008 [30 Dec 2008]
Economics of energy - over a barrel [22 Dec 2008]
OPEC’s biggest cut [17 Dec 2008]
Crude oil prices and rig counts [12 Dec 2008]
Stagnation and other breakfast reading [29 Oct 2008]
The Credit Crunch in Charts [23 Oct 2008]
A great example of how to get fingers burned trading in oil [23 Oct 2008]
EU goes bananas over price rigging [16 Oct 2008]
Sharp fall in commodity prices [9 Oct 2008]
Another upward spike in inflation [16 Sep 2008]
Crude oil heads below $100 a barrel [9 Sep 2008]
Investing the proceeds of the oil bonanza [8 Sep 2008]
Economic cost of fuel subsidies [17 Aug 2008]
Some Good Radio Programmes [17 Aug 2008]
Oil - a coming supply crunch? [8 Aug 2008]
Light at the end of the pipeline? [16 Jul 2008]
15 Charts on the UK Economy to Kickstart Lessons in September 08 [14 Jul 2008]
Global oil industry in figures [12 Jul 2008]
Oil sands - an enviromental catastrophe? [11 Jul 2008]
Gasoline prices and taxation [11 Jul 2008]
High oil prices threaten Asian trade model [7 Jul 2008]
Oil dependency and market failure [3 Jul 2008]
Expectations and oil prices [1 Jul 2008]
Reverse de-coupling may save the USA’s bacon [1 Jul 2008]
The Squeeze is on! [24 Jun 2008]
Will your grand-children fly? [22 Jun 2008]
Two heavyweights on the UK economy [19 Jun 2008]

ECONOMICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER

Join over 6,000 other Economics Teachers in the UK and around the world who receive the tutor2u regular Economics Resource Email Newsletter. Get special offers, first news of latest resources, teaching ideas, conferences and workshops + loads of great ideas for teaching economics from our blog authors.